Sunday, November 9, 2014

Review: Varsham (വർഷം)


Cast: Mammootty (Venugopal), Asha Sarath (Nandini), Mamta Mohandas (Jayashree), TG Ravi (Peter), Govind Padmasoorya
Genre: Family Drama
Direction: Ranjith Shankar
Production: Mammootty, Ranjith Shankar
Written By: Ranjith Shankar
Edited by: Sagar Das
Screenplay by: Sanjeev Dutta
Cinematographer: Manoj Pillai
Music: Bijibal
Distributed by: Play House Release, Dreams and Beyond
Release Date: 6th November, 2014
Language: Malayalam
Duration: 2 hours 20 minutes

Varsham (വർഷം), a Malayalam film by Renjith Shankar, is a wonderful movie with Mammootty and Asha Sarath in the lead roles. It is a very clean movie with the story of parents who faced a big tragedy in their lives.  This movie has projected the whole concept of resilience so beautifully. I remembered the saying: “Experience is not what happens to you, but experience is what you do with what happens to you”. Turbulence may happen in life. It would be challenging to handle the turbulences in life. All of us have two options / choices to handle the turbulence: either to sulk thinking about the situations in life and curse the fate or to take the responsibility to change the situations. And it is also important not to lose the passion to live, keep the very purpose of life intact.

The movie begins with an interview by Manorama News Channel with one of the nominee as Newsmaker of the year- Mr. Venugopal (Mammootty). The story unfolds in flash back. Venugopal is a shrewd businessman who is into private money-lending business “Anand Finance” and also a doting father to Anand and husband to Nandini (Asha Sarath). Anand is his life. Both the parents have their own sets of expectations from Anand as far as studies and extracurricular activities are concerned and Anand tries to pursue music, karate, swimming etc. Nandini is envious of neighbours’ children achievements and ends up putting that pressure also on Anand.

Venugopal and Nandini get the biggest blow of their lives due to a tragedy. And then the story revolves around what they do with what happens to them. When they both lost the very focus of their lives, how they grow beyond the turbulent situations and try to help themselves to come out of the situation, find a new purpose of life. But when one tries to adapt to the tragic situations, the world may find and throw newer challenges.  

A few of the scenes are real tear-jerkers in the movie. The movie tells the story in absolutely non-exaggerated manner, whether it is the protective love of parents, their expectations from the kids, the regular fights between couples, sense of competition due to societal pressure, the way of minting money (at times even at the expense of conscience), friends turning foes, ups and downs of life and the resilience of every ordinary human being in an extraordinary manner etc.

The greatest strength of this movie is its cast, their superb performances and also the way story is told. Mammootty, Asha, Mamta Mohandas (as a doctor), TG Ravi all are so good.

Varsham (വർഷം) depicts the very philosophy of life, let whatever may be the situation, if the focus is on defining and redefining the purpose of life, then one would also find the way out and can enjoy the feel of rain drizzling.

Rating: 4 /5

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